Chapter 16

A Different Kind of War

Voidwalker Maximus

"Alright," I said, moving my hand toward the edge of the console. "Take care Charli." The Titan smiled and beat me to closing the video link. Charli had looked a bit worse for wear, but she was otherwise alright. Her voice and especially her face were full of sleep, her mind almost in a dream-like state as she spoke. I hadn't meant to wake her up, but after I'd run the diagnostics on the ship, I really felt as though I should check on her, if nothing else, to make sure she was fine and didn't want to come along with Arla, me, and possibly Heksis. As I had expected, she had declined, choosing to continue to sleep off her fatigue. If memory served me correctly, that was her first Ward of Dawn, which could very well explain her extremely tired state, but it didn't quite sit right with me. She seemed to know what she was doing, where to place it and hold it against one of the most powerful explosions I've seen. It was awe-inspiring and odd. I looked down at my hands and thought of the power they mysteriously transferred. In essence, I was the one who took her out of action, much like I had done to Lee before he died but in a different way this time.

Starco's voice pulled me out of my thoughts. "Incoming Arla," he announced. "She doesn't look to happy."

"Can't imagine why. She only lost our biggest break," I responded, understanding her frustration. She may not have contributed to his capture, but she knew the gravity of the situation and the threat the City faced. However…"Perhaps he'll still be of use in death."

"Perhaps. Should I let her in?"

"I've got it," I said, pressing a button on the console that broke the seal and lowered the ramp. The hydraulics hissed quietly as the ramp descended, and Arla's angry footsteps echoed louder as she entered. Her face was flushed red with her teeth and hands visibly clenched. Wet streaks ran down from fiery eyes. In no way was this a look of disappointment, this was anger, and by the looks of it, I did not fancy the person who ticked her off. Now in the ship, she began pacing the length of the ship, going all the way to the back, avoiding the ramp's hole, stomping to the front, and then repeating the process two or three more times whilst muttering unintelligible nonsense to herself.

After stomping it out for several minutes, her temper cooled off some, but her anger remained. "I can't believe him sometimes!" she exclaimed.

"Believe who?" I asked, having a pretty good idea who, but it would serve us all better in the long run.

"Heksis!" she yelled. "He thinks that we can line every Guardian up, shoot 'em in the head, and revive them like nothing happened."

"Why in the world would he want to do that?" I was flabbergasted by the mere mention of that. Not only would that take everyone out of the field, but it'd make it look like something was going on. Someone would talk, and it'd all go downhill from there.

"He thinks that's the way to weed out fake Guardians…"

"He's not wrong," Starco interrupted, followed immediately by a death stare from Arla. "Sorry," he whispered, retracting closer to where I was.

"But he didn't consider my situation or other Guardians in a similar situation to mine. It was stupid and shortsighted, and I don't understand how someone could suggest that and still sleep at night. He didn't even consider that Yang was a civilian, not a Guardian. You're a soldier, you know why we can't do that to all of them."

"Which does make our predicament all the harder," I added.

Arla took a deep breath. Her voice relaxed, and the anger seemed to slip away to mild annoyance. "Well, what do you suggest we do?"

"I was hoping you'd have some sort of wisdom for this. You have been a Guardian much longer than I have."

Arla waved it off and took one of the seats Starco had set up behind the flanks of my own. "I really want to hear what ideas you have. You're the one with the secret contacts and bad luck"

"Secret contacts?" I asked, confused. Then, it hit me. "You mean Dea? I'd hardly call her a secret contact. A secret to you and Charli at the least, but I have had plenty of bad luck." I waited for her to say something, but it became apparent she wasn't going to speak until I had suggested something. "First things first, I think we ought to know what we're up against, and Variks may hold the key. Since nothing in this world is ever free, I have no clue what he's going to have us do in return. I'd imagine that it's not going to be pretty though."

"Sounds about right," she said, getting back on her feet. "Quick question, is the mythoclast still here?"

"In the room on the table. Starco and I were doing a little tinkering with it, maybe find something new."

"Did you?" she called from the back room.

"Well, no, not really. I did discover 4 ways that do not extend the life of a fusion rifle battery though."

"In a half hour?"

"Well, yeah. Helps when you have a Ghost to help you." I immediately regretted my words.

"Bet it does," Arla said glumly.

I still struggled to grasp that Stargazer was gone and still slipped up every now and again about reminding Arla of her death. I wasn't trying to be insensitive, but given that Arla was the only Guardian I knew without one, it made it hard to keep that sort of thing from a conversation, especially given how much use Starco was in the field. I don't want to say I pity her, but the situation did get awkward. "Sorry Arla," I quickly apologized.

"None needed," she replied, still in the back. "I'm getting more used to it." There was a metallic clang of a cabinet opening and closing. "Where back here did you put it?"

"There's a metal case on the wall. Just pull the door up," I called back. I stood up and walked into the back to watch what was about to happen.

"This one?" She pointed to a long, silver box mounted on the wall. I nodded and watched her I slide it open, and my trap spring to life. "HEEELLLOOO PRETTY LADY!" Crush yelled to her surprise. In shock, Arla fell backward into the bunk, stone-faced for a moment, but her face quickly broke into a stupid smile. "You jerk!" she laughed, pulling herself off the bed and lightly punching my arm. "Now where'd you really put it?"

I crouched down and threw my arm underneath the bunk, sweeping around until I found it and pulled the gun from underneath the bed. Banshee called it the Vex Mythoclast, golden fusion rifle that seemed to synergize human technologies with that of the Vex after the gunsmith had gotten a hold of it. It had been one she'd found in the Black Garden but that was about all I knew of its specific nature and history. Banshee said it had ties to some place called the Vault of Glass, but all I'd heard of it was a failed raid a few months back that killed six Guardians and a fireteam of three sent in to rescue any survivors. Not a place I looked forward to visiting anytime soon.

"Thanks," she said as I handed her the gun. She looked through the sights and touched the battery. "It still works right?"

"It's just the way you left it though I apologize that two of those batteries no longer work."

"Don't worry about it Max. I'll get my revenge later," she said with a wink. One prank deserves another I guess. Can't say I don't deserve it. She magnetically attached the weapon to her back and slid out of the room. Following suit, I called out to Starco, "Any sign of Heksis?" Hindsight says I should've asked Arla if he was coming rather than making the assumption, but hindsight is 20/20 and only accomplishable after the fact.

Suddenly, a voice from the left engine room. "Are you waiting for me to build one?"

"The heck?" I muttered, turning the corner to see a Guardian in blue, warlock garb and a blood red visor masking his face as usual. Heksis. While I was happy he could join us, those feelings were immediately countered by the fact he was standing in my engine room, even my ship. "Starco! How many times have I reminded you to lock the engine room?" I shouted to my ghost at the front.

"This would mark the first actually," he stated. "I've only done it because of yknow."

"Right. Well, let's keep em locked."

"On it."

I turned back to Heksis. "Welcome aboard Hek," I said with plastered, albeit convincing pleasure. "Let's try and keep our arrivals announced though, shall we?" I added.

"Whatever you say." The warlock muttered, letting out another gentle cough from his respirator in his helmet. It sounded more like allergies than anything else. Something rubbed against my leg and scurried. The form dashed into a crouched Heksis' open arms, a cat with the spots and coloration of the long-extinct cheetah. He cradled the feline like an infant, an action that looked strange more than anything else. There was a certain clumsiness and restraint he showed as he straightened himself. Arla said nothing during our brief exchange, choosing instead to move to the front of the ship and watch the hangar workers and robots below.

I approached her from behind and lightly placed a hand on her shoulder. "You good?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said with a feigned smile. "I'll live."

"Living is good," I said and then began making my way to the back once more. "Alright," I announced to the others. "Let's get moving."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Space looked unforgiving yet serene as the blues of the sky slowly gave way to black void dotted with stars.

"Alright, artificial gravity activated and orbit sustainable orbit established," Starco relayed I looked back at Arla and Heksis who were unbuckling their belts and standing up. "I'm going to make sure those screws will stay tight," I said. "Don't want us getting jettisoned out of slipspace." Arla gave a small smile. "You two behave yourselves." I unbuckled my own belts and began moving towards the back.

"I could get…" Starco began, about to get Holliday or one of her technicians on the line.

"Let them be. They've got bigger issues than a few meager screws. Besides, if I can't tighten a few screws, what good am I anyway." Starco unlocked the engine room doors while maintaining a rather high orbit around earth. Heksis stepped out of the doorway with a nod and allowed me to open the door. A sudden yet steady, drone rushed out of the door and bounced around the cockpit and adjacent areas. I quickly moved in and slid the door shut so as not to hurt either of the others' ears any longer. Now, I was suffering alone. "Helmet please," I shouted to Starco back at the front of the ship. He obliged almost immediately, and then the whirring became soft in the background.

I found the control panel almost by memory and activated the lights. I habitually scanned through the system statuses and made sure they were all warming up correctly and efficiently. A couple had elevated energy consumption, but we were taking on additional weight, not enough to upset anything, but enough to require a little extra juice. Full tank should be able to handle 20 trips to and from the Reef without any combat or fancy flying, a hyperbole of course. Regardless, fuel was not going to be an issue. These screws, however, would be if they had loosened.

These screws held the coolant and runoff pipes to and from the warp drive. If the screws fail, the increased stress of the connected tubes could cause them to snap and rupture, eventually cascading into an explosion that would kill us all. Halliday's crew had caught the screws just before they could break loose while I'd been out but asked me to make sure they were right before leaving. I'd checked once earlier but that was before everything began warming up. Satisfied, I moved down the hallway leading through the engine until I found the place I'd been at earlier for the screws.

The ceiling was about a foot overhead at this point in here, allowing me to fiddle with the screws and ensure they were right. None of them moved thankfully, so my job was done. I began making my way back when Starco interrupted my thoughts about what to ask Variks. "I intercepted a transmission." I paused, listening. "Who's it from?"

"Unknown. Trying to get a trace, but they're talking to Heksis." Part of getting the new ship, I also had a state-of-the-art signal interceptor installed, mostly to try and detect if Dea jumps onboard and relays her status to whomever she works for. Essentially, it allowed me to listen to any sort of signal, encrypted or not, without any involved party knowing it. This had been the first time it'd been triggered, and when I heard the voice, I was slightly disappointed it wasn't her. I really could use a bit of her advice.

"Odd. Patch it through."

"Be advised, the signal isn't perfect."

The first voice was distinctly human though the static with a small amount of accent blended into his English. "...gave them about a two dozen of em. One of their leaders was furious about it but they agreed to take them in." Static took over for several seconds. "-ou know what I'm about to." Static. "...it's 2 kilometers long and half a kilometer wide. Now that's a lot of…" More static. "I suggested unintelligible the other ones use but they don't understand it, so we need to teach them about it first." Static took over once more. "I say you and a group of guards go get some. Main locations were in a place in North America called...hold on boss uh...Marrreeeville in the old Oheeo state...I tried. Either way, it's the headquarters of some gardening company that made nutrient enhanced soil waaaayyyy back. I suggest you start there and get any data ya can find. They want a lot of it. As in...whole cargo hold full of unintelligible. Council wants it done soon so tick tock..."

Heksis' signal was much clearer, probably due to his proximity, and his voice was hushed as if he were trying to keep secret. "Another delivery mission? I told you Mason my ship can't handle the cargo attachment. And I'm not cleaning up my cargo bay that's where I got the shop set up." Hek replied, with his voice echoing in the hallway a bit.

"Just move it." The human said bluntly into his ear. "We haven't much time before the garbled catch on."

"I can't just move it!" Heksis whispered harshly. "That's my source of income! Guardians love robots to help them out with stuff. How the heck do you think I pay for all my projects?" He said, his tone sounding angered slightly.

"I thought those Vanguard people payed you."

"They pay me by letting me keep all the loot from the missions." Static took over again as his contact spoke. "Fine. I'll get it done by the end of the month..."

"Alright. Toodaloo." The signal cut out and Starco cut back in. "'Toodaloo?'" he remarked. "Who says that anymore?"

"Apparently him," I responded. "Were you able to get a lock?"

"Not an exact location. Seemed to be coming from Earth, but the encryption on the transmitting data was too solid to crack in that conversation. A couple more minutes, and we would've had it."

I sighed. "Well, nothing we can do now. What did you make of it?"

"Well, they called him boss for one. That's strange. As far as I could dig, Heksis doesn't have a formal fire team, so that rules that out. Employee for his shop?"

"Possibly. But why would an employee relay orders to his boss. More specifically, why would an inventor's employee be privy to that sort of info anyway?"

"As you said, apparently him. I'll keep this in my storage and my eye on Heksis. He's been hiding something from us and Arla since day one, and we can't let her get hurt like that."

"Should we tell her?" I inquired. In my opinion, she had a right to now we were suspicious of her...boyfriend.

"Not right now. She wasn't lying earlier when she said she was feeling better, but her emotions could still be a bit relative."

"I don't want to keep secrets from my teammates. It's wrong."

"You hid Dea from Arla, and then you both hid her from Charli, and now you both are hiding it from Heksis. Not to mention lots of stuff from the garden, and…"

"Ok, I get it," I interrupted. "I'm in no place to say secrets are wrong." I still hate it when he's right. "So...then what do we do?"

"We talk to Variks and act like we never heard. If something incriminating comes up, we tell her, and we go from there. Thus far though, he hasn't given us any reason to worry other than the comms interceptor may have a short or some internal damage."

"Well, if there's nothing we can do, we might as well get moving," I concluded.

"I'll see you up front."

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

The Vestian Outpost

If the Awoken were in peacetime the last time we were here, then they were prepared for all-out war this time around. The Vestian Outpost was fortified, weaponized, and every soldier on the station was armed to the teeth. Countless fighter patrols streaked through the pink and purple hues of the Reef, and four heavy fighters flanked us as we approached our designated landing pad. As we unloaded, we were disarmed and my ship searched for contraband and stowaways. We were then to be silent unless directly spoken to or the arrangement was cancelled.

We were led by a squad of armed guards to a rough tent with a single figure standing in its lit doorway. He was clearly Fallen and hunched over a staff. His helmet looked like that if a hammerhead shark and blue-white eyes pierced from the blackness behind it. Their squint was visible and intimidating even from afar. As we approached, he straightened, revealing his towering form, metal upper arms, and an armor-clad lower set.

The squad leader stopped us about a dozen feet from Variks and spoke to him for but a moment. He glowered in our direction and stared us down as he slowly stepped toward us, each echoing off the metal floor and walls until he stood directly in front of us.

"Follow," he said in a slow, raspy voice. The voice sounded like a smooth stone rubbing against a jagged one, like someone who'd smoked for decades. "We have much...to dissscusss." He turned to the guards. "Leave us."

The head guard replaced Variks' place in front of me. "Same rules apply Guardians," she warned rather harshly. "Your Variks' problem until he's done with you." Arla and I nodded whilst Heksis remained unreadable behind his visor. With that, the guards departed, leaving us semi-alone with Variks. His straightened posture slackened some as they disappeared beyond a door. "She is Cosay, security chief," he said. "She is...stern, but clever. Though, not as clever as Varikss" He turned and watched them walk away. As they reported to an important-looking official some distance away, Variks repeated, "Follow."

He led us along the long catwalks of the outpost, painted the same purple and pink glow of the Reef by the area outside the enclosure. The catwalks themselves largely clung to the metal walls, leading to the Queen's chamber at the rear of the central area, but we continued walking past it, turning the corner and proceeding into a small alcove with a heavy metal door. As Variks approached, the red light on the door flashed blue and disappeared as the door parted horizontally and opened. We moved through silently, not wanting to test their patience. Suddenly, the door hissed shut and clicked, locking with what I guessed to be very limited access whilst we were here. The room in and of itself was completely self-contained and rather dark, near pitch black until our contact flipped on some red yet extremely dim emergency lights. "My apologiess," he rasped. He punched a control panel on the metal wall, and the normal lighting flickered into life. "War forces dissscomfort." He drew in a slow breath that growled almost as much as his voice did. We stood in a line near the center of the room, while Variks slowly paced from our left to our right perpendicular to the entrance. His path became circular, engulfing us as we stood, unsure of how to react. Heksis remained inert, but his hands suggested he was on edge or nervous, I couldn't quite tell. "Curious…" he said slowly, circling behind us. "I am...intrigued they allow traitors and nuisances to speak to Variks." He chuckled. "That Prince Uldren would lose it if he knew you two were here."He turned to Heksis. "Not sure about you." There was a tense silence for a second, but then he continued. "If Cosay has the stick up her butt, the prince has the tree." A half-smile crept onto Arla's face as I glanced to my left.

The momentary lightheartedness dissolved almost as quickly as it appeared. Seriousness gripped the room and the inhabitants therein, including myself. A dark force comparable to what I felt back at the Tower when I presented my evidence of the Illusion and then had all of my activities investigated. Well, they had their evidence now, and here we are trying to figure out how to detect them in the City to essentially do damage control before too many innocents died. My secondary question was could they emulate a Guardian? If they could do it without much discrepancy between the original and the copy, they could (and probably would) infiltrate the Tower, spelling the doom of everything we'd worked for not only for the past (almost) year but those before us. To be felled by one's own blade or one's brother just became that much more real.

Suddenly, Arla's elbow burrowed itself into my side, yanking me from my thoughts. Variks was staring at me expectantly, and I felt a little shame crawling in as I realized he'd noticed I had not been listening. I defaulted. "What is the House of Illusion?" I asked, trying to sound as confident as possible despite being caught in a different state of mind.

"We are proud Eliksni, not these Fallen. But we are proud for different reasons. The Illusion share our blood, nothing else." His voice expressed more hatred than his words alone. "Long before me, there was Council of Eldersss. They...kept peace and prosperity until the Whirlwind. Their Houssse…" Variks put that in air quotes. "...was an...experiment in House Judgement. We convinced warriors in each House to become part of our Black Opsss. They fixed...problems between council members or Houses, made beliefss...disappear. The best wore black stripes on their armor...one for each kill. Most employed by House Judgement had 10-15 by the time they were killed...one way or another. Back then, they were the arms of law. Now...they are outcasts." I waited for him to say more, but he said nothing.

Instead, Arla asked, "How'd that come about?"

"Hehe...I'm glad you asked." It was almost as if he had wanted to us to ask from the very beginning. Arla folded her arms and watched him intensely as I hung on to every word, trying to glean something from it that could help us keep them from killing hundreds if not thousands in the City. Every life was worth saving, even if some of them were thieving scoundrels.

"Eliksni history is mostly legend. A captured vessel, scrubbed of its former House, but House Judgement kept some things. House Illusion is one of them. Officially, House Illusion doesn't exist, never did, but that was how the Council wanted it. A...clear House for dark work. They could hide in shadow for hourss, waiting to sstrike their target. They were elite trained for one thing, killing. Like you, Guardians, they had ways, but theirs were...better than yours. They mastered accidents, like guns for you.

"We painted them black and called them Shadows, but they were ungrateful. After years, they rebelled like House Wolves and bit the hand that feeds them. They tried to kill the Council, but they failed because their plan was...ordinary.

"Years later, with a clever leader, they captured the Council, and forced them to make Shadows a house. They agreed to survive, but many Houses instructed House Judgement to keep off records. House Judgement hid the file from others but watched House Shadows. They were smart and knew they needed to be if they were to survive. One product came through House Shadow. Something called Trace tech. No House knew what it was or how it worked. Only current House Illusion would know what it is." There was more silence as he awaited another question.

"Could this trace tech be connected with their disguises?" I asked.

"What do you mean, Guardian?" Variks asked, perplexed.

"They can take the form of another living being almost perfectly. We have people at the Tower investigating a body we captured."

"I do not know. Could be. When Council heard of Trace Tech, House Shadows changed name to House Illusion. Their arguments were...convincing after that...so maybe. This was also right after Whirlwind, so Council was...disorganized. When Whirlwind ended, wars broke out, killing many Houses and Eliksni. Illusion took remnants and trained them.

"However, House Judgement knows House Illusion's poverty caused them to sell their House to others because they had might, not money. When a much smaller Council formed, House Judgement tried to maintain control of bigger House Illusion but failed. A member of the council would disappear sometimes or change their stance on an issue. It was...suspiciousss, but no one looked into it. Lucky them.

"Then more war. A new Kell for House Illusion rose. Killed many Houses and absorbed what remained. An army of great strength to oppose all other Kells. Agents replaced Houses and joined Illusion. Norkonis was his name. Records say he was crafty and sly. A great orator with a trick up his sleeve. House Wolves, House Devils, House Kings, and others banded together in one final battle against this forsaken House. Council won, but lost much. Devil Kell, Kings Kell, and Kells of smaller Houses perished in suicide run by Illusion ships. Wolf Kell was hurt but lived. But yes...the Illusion were gone."

There was more silence. "Sounds like a different kind of war to me," Arla stated, looking to me.

"No. Same war. Different rules. We fought for Great Machine, your Traveler. House Illusion were...radical in their approach. Beyond the House at least, how they used to be."

"Don't we do the same?" I asked. "Fight for the Traveler."

Variks was quiet for a moment. "To a point. Eliksni were more devoted." He placed a fist on his chest and raised his voice as he said this, sounding quite proud of this fact despite the fact that he was, for all intents and purposes, a turncoat to his species. "We aimed to please Great Machine, its servants, then the Kells. Your people are godless, selfish. They serve themselves first, care about that City than the Machine."

I wanted to counter him, but Arla tugged my arm, signaling me to keep my mouth shut before I completely spoiled it. There were bad apples in every basket. That's how society, or at least human society works. That Titan that tried to fight Arla and that fireteam that fought me in the Crucible, that tried to kill me, those were bad apples, but for every piece of coal, there was a diamond hidden in that rough. Layma, it's been a while since I've seen her, Arla, Lee, even Advira for the very brief time I knew her. One could even argue that Dea was a treasure trove of help when she decided to help out, but she said her "path was [her] own," something she'd generally kept to with some intersections with.

Another elbow ripped me out of my thoughts. Variks' was suddenly leaned over and directly in my face. I took a hurried step back out of surprise. "A distracted warrior dies quickly, yes? Eyes on Variks Guardian. House Illusion hesitates not." He moved back to where he'd been.

I nodded. "So what do we do to stop them?"

"That...is for you to decide. Vanguard Rey said to advise."

"Then what do you advise?"

Variks returned to my personal space. "I suggest you respect your Elders, or I throw you to…" he cut himself off and moved away. "Time is short, and I'm curious what your third thinks." He turned to Heksis. "You've been oddly...quiet." His voice almost sounded suspicious, but it came off more as a tease.

"How do I find them, and how do I kill them?" Heksis asked intensely.

Variks chuckled to himself. "That-that's a Guardian who acts. One problem. We know not. Technology only gets better with time. Eliksni are better than then. Guardians are better. I imagine your progress will be...slower with Suros gone." Didn't know that the news had gotten out here. "Only time knows. You need something that sees invisible. Sees light you cannot. To kill...bullets do well, but blades make it...ironic. Kill them how you see fit."

"What about these so-called Trace disguises?" I added.

"Time killed the schematics, but they are likely machines. Find a frequency and disrupt it. If that works not, you must find...alternative methods."

Suddenly, the door flew open, and Chief Cosay, flanked by two guards on each side, stepped through. "Alright Guardians, time's up. Now, it's time to settle your debts," she demanded. Cosay looked jumpy, much more nervous than the last time we'd seen her. I couldn't see her eyes behind the sleek, plated helmet she wore. Her squad was equipped with large weapons capable of taking on waves of Fallen at a time.

"Debts?" Arla and I asked in unison. "What do you mean?" I added, taking lead. Variks slowly made his way over to the guards.

I'm almost certain I could see the smirk on her face despite the helmet. "Surely you didn't think this meeting was free," she said almost tauntingly. "Prince Uldren and the Queen rarely meet with the Guardians without a price. Are you ready to pay?"

I glanced at the ground, then returned my gaze. "How much do you want?"

I could feel the mock emanating from the smirk. "We have no use for your money. Let's get moving. Time is short." Her unit turned as one and surrounded us without even looking, an impressive display might I add.

"Good luck Guardianss…" Variks added before disappearing around the corner.

A few seconds after he left, Cosay marched us out of the room and began leading us back towards the main area of the outpost where my ship was waiting patiently, just in front of where it dropped us off earlier. Abiding by the rules earlier, we each kept our mouths shut until we got to the ship. It was then that Cosay motioned us in the ship and followed us inside. She briefed us while her troops returned all that they had taken, placing the weapons in the small bunk room much to Crush's delight. Shortly after they left, I could hear him trying to flirt with one of the guns, likely Dea's yellow rifle because he'd taken a certain liking to it that made me almost uncomfortable though it was hard to hear specifics over Cosay.

"So your payment comes in your firepower. Our scanners have detected two modified Wolf Skiffs and a Ketch not far from here, and our esteemed Queen wants you to take them out. Against my wishes, she's giving you a squadron of our fighters to help you. They'll send you the coordinates when you leave the station." She signaled her troops off of the ship and pushed a finger into my chest. "If any of them die out there, I'm holding you personally responsible, Guardian." She sounded dead serious. "For the Queen," she said, turning on her heel and leaving.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

Hello again, it's the SFR. Just a quick reminder that this is a re-imagining of the Destiny universe. Not everything is completely canon. I try to leave a fair portion of the lore untouched, but Bungie, in my opinion didn't do the best job creating the past for their universe. I won't pretend I'm an expert on the Fallen's past or Variks' voice patterns, so I did the best with the resources I had that would still tell a (hopefully to you) compelling story. Ether (pun intended) way, thanks for the continued support. I'm excited for the next chapter and can't wait for all of you to see it. I will warn you. This is the point where things change.

Either way, a huge thank you to all of you, especially PegLegDregsNeedTheirMeds (yes I will continue to cite him when his character is present as he is not my creation), but all of you, bar none, are more than appreciated. Have a great morning/day/night.